


Eye to Eye

by AetherAria



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Established Relationship, Ficlet, Fluff, IT'S JUST SOFTNESS!!! THAT'S IT, Multi, Prompt Fill, Second Citadel (Penumbra Podcast), just some soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-17 12:44:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20621243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AetherAria/pseuds/AetherAria
Summary: During a quiet moment in the swamp, Arum has a question for one of his humans.





	Eye to Eye

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted by bluerayofsunshine on tumblr for the sentence, "Look into my eyes, what do you see?" Good gosh this came out gentle as heck, and thank goodness for that. I don't know about y'all, but I could absolutely use some gentleness this week. <3

“You have spent quite a bit of time looking into my eyes by now, little honeysuckle,” Arum says softly. The swamp buzzes, soft as well, warm muggy air around them as they laze on a bed of moss, and Damien pulls his eyes away from Rilla as she takes some sort of mysterious measurements of the water a few yards away, and then meets Arum’s gaze instead.

“I certainly have,” he agrees, unsure precisely what thread Arum is pulling at today. “I would be content to do so for ages still.” He takes Arum’s hand as he says this, pulling it to his lips to kiss his knuckles, and Arum’s frill flares partway in pleased surprise.

“Gnk- yes, well,” Arum coughs lightly, but he doesn’t pull his hand away. “I- well, I was merely curious- in the time since… in our time together, do you… do you still see in my eyes what you saw that first time, honeysuckle?”

Damien stares at Arum for a moment, surprised, and the monster stares back, mostly patient though his hand flexes nervously in Damien’s grip.

“Something… human, you mean?” Damien murmurs, and Arum nods, wrinkling his snout slightly in discomfort. Damien exhales, letting go of Arum’s hand so he can cup his cheeks instead, and the monster’s chest rumbles lightly with an automatic purr. “Arum… do you still see something monstrous in _my_ eyes?”

Arum flicks his tongue in the air, then glances aside for a moment. “I asked you _first_, honeysuckle.”

Damien smiles, brushing his thumbs over the scales of Arum’s cheeks. “Satisfy my curiosity, my lily, and I will satisfy yours in turn. Please. Look into my eyes, Arum, and tell me what you see.”

Damien holds Arum’s face in his hands, and Arum lets him, purring softly as he looks at the poet again, as his eyes flick between Damien’s, as he searches that calm gaze.

There is quiet, for a long moment, or what passes for quiet in the swamp: wordlessness, cushioned by frogsong and soft splashing and the hum of heat and insects. Arum exhales, eventually, and leans his face more fully into Damien’s palms.

“Monstrousness,” he murmurs, a note of amused self-deprecation in his voice. “There is a ferocity to you, honeysuckle, that certainly shines through your eyes. Ferocity, earnestness, wit, and- and affection.”

“Love,” Damien says, soft and certain, and Arum’s frill flares just slightly. He still can’t quite match the easy way his poet offers his feelings, but-

“Yes,” he says, and then he lifts his own hand, tilting Damien’s chin up with a subtle smile. “Yes, I can see love. Of course-” he laughs. “Of course, I did not see that in you the _first_ time, honeysuckle. Though there may have been sparks, I suppose.” He pauses, considering his next words carefully. “I think… I think that perhaps… perhaps it was the complexity of you that intrigued me first.”

Damien’s smile widens, grows warmer. “Complexity is precisely the word. When I looked into your eyes… the _depth_ I saw confused me. I did not believe a monster capable of such… such a rich mind, so vivid a personality, nuance and contradiction such as I had only known before in humans. It was, I think, the only way I could reconcile how much I enjoyed speaking with you, fighting with you. I had to think of it as a way that you were like a human, because I could not understand a monster like _you_.”

Arum wonders if Damien can feel the way his heart is kicking, the way his entire body wants to lean into the poet, to crowd his space and gather him in his arms. “I am…” his voice comes out too rough, and he clears his throat before he makes another attempt. “I am glad, honeysuckle, that you saw me the way you did.”

“As am I, my beloved monster,” Damien murmurs, and then he leans up to press a kiss to the tip of Arum’s snout. “And as I am grateful, every day, that you saw me in return.” He leans closer, arranging himself on Arum’s chest, resting his head on Arum’s shoulder with a contented sigh as Arum holds him. “Every single day.”


End file.
